Wii U And 3DS To Go Offline April 8

First Nintendo ceased all transactions in the 3DS and Wii U eShop. Then they shut down the shop itself. The final step is nigh: the machines will breathe their last this spring, as Nintendo shuts down the servers for all online functions for the 3DS and Wii U. Death comes for everything eventually, even the machines.

The precise day and time is April 8, 2024 at 1 PM Eastern / 4 PM Pacific. At that point, any video game with online functions will cease to connect, including Animal Crossing: New Leaf, the Wii U and 3DS versions of Super Smash Bros and the original Splatoon. Most third party online functionality will be removed as well, though Nintendo states there will be “some exceptions.”

There will be an exception in Nintendo’s case too: for some reason Pokemon Bank, the cloud backup for Pokemon games on these systems, will remain up, even though a newer program called Pokemon Home has replaced it. You’ll also still be able to re-download any digital game you already bought, as well as patches and updates that have been released for those games. Other than that, it’s all going away.

The Wii U is well known as the worst-selling console in Nintendo’s history, but the 3DS was a strong performer for them during those disastrous years. The latter handheld is still pretty unique with its stereoscopic screen that produces glasses-less 3D. The effect wasn’t to everyone’s taste, but it was pretty darn cool.

Note that Nintendo laid the Wii to rest like this shortly before revealing the Switch, so it may not be long before we finally get our first peek at that next system.